Strength training Weights vs body weight

ChristyMomx3
ChristyMomx3 Posts: 176
in Fitness and Exercise
Is one better than the other? I am doing the Couch 2 5K program and everything I read says I need to do strength training. Am I okay doing squats, lunges, and core exercises or do I really need to lift weights? Also what if I only have a few hand weights to lift. What should I be doing with those weights?

Replies

  • BenderFitness
    BenderFitness Posts: 349
    You are going to get very strong mixed opinions on this post. Both will work. I primarily do body weight exercises. You can check out my workouts at www.benderfitness.com or www.youtube.com/mdloughy but I like high intensity workouts with a lot of fat burning.

    Lifting weights can give you results and build muscle very quickly. Try both and see what works for your body. :)
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,993 Member
    Both work. But eventually unless you can increase resistance (by changing the leverage or adding weight) bodyweight exercises will become more endurance training rather than strength training. To increase strength you need to overload the muscle and if you can do say 12 pushups easily, then to increase strength you would need to either switch to one hand push ups, change your position or put extra resistance on your body to keep progressing.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Lift_hard_eat_big
    Lift_hard_eat_big Posts: 2,278 Member
    One great benefit of strength training with heavy weights is that it improves bone density. A major plus specially for women.
  • Going4Lean
    Going4Lean Posts: 1,078 Member
    bump
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    This is something that's good to start with


    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Both work. But eventually unless you can increase resistance (by changing the leverage or adding weight) bodyweight exercises will become more endurance training rather than strength training. To increase strength you need to overload the muscle and if you can do say 12 pushups easily, then to increase strength you would need to either switch to one hand push ups, change your position or put extra resistance on your body to keep progressing.


    While I completely and totally agree with every word of this, I'd like to point out that the OP is a female with a C25K level of fitness. That's to say that bodyweight workouts will be challenging and rewarding for the OP for quite some time. I'm thinking the first few pushups will be a challenge, and 3 sets of 12 is worlds away right now. Pullups? Plenty of work to be done before we've hit the endurance phase. One hand push ups? Come on, Niner, you know most of the guys on MFP can't do those.

    Bodyweight workouts are great and will be beneficial for the OP for a while. When pushups, pullups, squats and lunges in rapid succession get to be too easy, come back and post again and we'll be happy to guide you into the next phase.
  • wheezybreezy
    wheezybreezy Posts: 313 Member
    Both work. But eventually unless you can increase resistance (by changing the leverage or adding weight) bodyweight exercises will become more endurance training rather than strength training. To increase strength you need to overload the muscle and if you can do say 12 pushups easily, then to increase strength you would need to either switch to one hand push ups, change your position or put extra resistance on your body to keep progressing.


    While I completely and totally agree with every word of this, I'd like to point out that the OP is a female with a C25K level of fitness. That's to say that bodyweight workouts will be challenging and rewarding for the OP for quite some time. I'm thinking the first few pushups will be a challenge, and 3 sets of 12 is worlds away right now. Pullups? Plenty of work to be done before we've hit the endurance phase. One hand push ups? Come on, Niner, you know most of the guys on MFP can't do those.

    Bodyweight workouts are great and will be beneficial for the OP for a while. When pushups, pullups, squats and lunges in rapid succession get to be too easy, come back and post again and we'll be happy to guide you into the next phase.

    So, for someone very far from those fitness goals that you outlined, would doing something like stronglifts or starting strength not be a good idea? I still find body weight exercises to be pretty darn difficult!
  • ChristyMomx3
    ChristyMomx3 Posts: 176
    This is something that's good to start with


    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/


    This is the one that I am currently doing. However squats and lunges are killing my knees.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Both work. But eventually unless you can increase resistance (by changing the leverage or adding weight) bodyweight exercises will become more endurance training rather than strength training. To increase strength you need to overload the muscle and if you can do say 12 pushups easily, then to increase strength you would need to either switch to one hand push ups, change your position or put extra resistance on your body to keep progressing.


    While I completely and totally agree with every word of this, I'd like to point out that the OP is a female with a C25K level of fitness. That's to say that bodyweight workouts will be challenging and rewarding for the OP for quite some time. I'm thinking the first few pushups will be a challenge, and 3 sets of 12 is worlds away right now. Pullups? Plenty of work to be done before we've hit the endurance phase. One hand push ups? Come on, Niner, you know most of the guys on MFP can't do those.

    Bodyweight workouts are great and will be beneficial for the OP for a while. When pushups, pullups, squats and lunges in rapid succession get to be too easy, come back and post again and we'll be happy to guide you into the next phase.

    So, for someone very far from those fitness goals that you outlined, would doing something like stronglifts or starting strength not be a good idea? I still find body weight exercises to be pretty darn difficult!

    If you want to join a gym, SL and SS are both tremendously successful routines for beginners. I was speaking more to the OP, who stated she didn't want to go to a gym and wanted to add bodyweight strength exercises. She absolutely can benefit from a bodyweight routine.

    Both can be beneficial, but like Niner pointed out, when you're at the gym you can progress endlessly, whereas with bodyweight there is a limit of what you can do.
  • wheezybreezy
    wheezybreezy Posts: 313 Member
    Thank you! I just recently joined a gym, but I'm a total procrastinator and a teensy bit scared of the giant weight room. Sigh.. the women's fitness center upstairs doesn't even have a squat rack so I guess I just need to suck it up and quit being a baby.
  • ixap
    ixap Posts: 675 Member
    So, for someone very far from those fitness goals that you outlined, would doing something like stronglifts or starting strength not be a good idea? I still find body weight exercises to be pretty darn difficult!
    No those would both be fine. You'll just choose a weight on your barbell that's appropriate to your fitness level.

    It's more the reverse that people need to worry about -- if one is already quite strong, there's a limit to the strengthening benefit of bodyweight exercises, because your body weighs what it weighs, vs. a barbell, to which you can add weights indefinitely to keep it challenging.
  • Hezzietiger1
    Hezzietiger1 Posts: 1,256 Member
    I'd say eventually u will want to add weights. When I first started, body weight was fine. I could do squats, pushups, burpees, plank holds, and variations of all of the above and it was enough to increase strength. Then I just kept getting stronger. I still do all of these things but they have become pieces of a cardio set or pieces of a strength set... not the full workout. My body is transforming with the heavy weights.
  • RobynMWilson
    RobynMWilson Posts: 1,540 Member
    It really depends what your goals are. If you just wanna build some lean muscle mass, body weight resistance is ok but if you really wanna build muscles to rev your metabolism and for muscle definition then more resistance in the form of bands or weights would def help you meet your goals faster..
  • ixap
    ixap Posts: 675 Member

    This is the one that I am currently doing. However squats and lunges are killing my knees.
    Have you had someone check out your form to make sure that isn't causing the pain?
  • blb1230
    blb1230 Posts: 69 Member
    bump
  • Hezzietiger1
    Hezzietiger1 Posts: 1,256 Member
    Both work. But eventually unless you can increase resistance (by changing the leverage or adding weight) bodyweight exercises will become more endurance training rather than strength training. To increase strength you need to overload the muscle and if you can do say 12 pushups easily, then to increase strength you would need to either switch to one hand push ups, change your position or put extra resistance on your body to keep progressing.


    While I completely and totally agree with every word of this, I'd like to point out that the OP is a female with a C25K level of fitness. That's to say that bodyweight workouts will be challenging and rewarding for the OP for quite some time. I'm thinking the first few pushups will be a challenge, and 3 sets of 12 is worlds away right now. Pullups? Plenty of work to be done before we've hit the endurance phase. One hand push ups? Come on, Niner, you know most of the guys on MFP can't do those.

    Bodyweight workouts are great and will be beneficial for the OP for a while. When pushups, pullups, squats and lunges in rapid succession get to be too easy, come back and post again and we'll be happy to guide you into the next phase.

    I''d also like to add that "c25k level of fitness" doesn't mean that she isn't strong. I am not a runner and if I decided to be a runner I'd be at a c25k week 3 level.. but I am an athlete. I sprint very quickly, I can bust out 100 burpees in 1 set, and I can easily do 3 sets of 12 pushups or 36 straight pushups if I really wanted to. I can't do one armed pushups, but I can do them with one hand on a basketball, or one leg up, or on a balance ball or with a weight vest or whatever.

    All that to say... you are what you train for. I don't train to run.. I train to burn a **** load of fat, sculpt my body, to be stronger and increase my overall endurance. Let's not limit posts by making assumptions of what we feel a person can or cannot do based on our assumptions of fit. That's all. :)
  • myfitnessval
    myfitnessval Posts: 687 Member

    This is the one that I am currently doing. However squats and lunges are killing my knees.
    Have you had someone check out your form to make sure that isn't causing the pain?

    pretty much this. the farther you stick that *kitten* out during squats the least likely its gonna hurt. lol
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Both work. But eventually unless you can increase resistance (by changing the leverage or adding weight) bodyweight exercises will become more endurance training rather than strength training. To increase strength you need to overload the muscle and if you can do say 12 pushups easily, then to increase strength you would need to either switch to one hand push ups, change your position or put extra resistance on your body to keep progressing.


    While I completely and totally agree with every word of this, I'd like to point out that the OP is a female with a C25K level of fitness. That's to say that bodyweight workouts will be challenging and rewarding for the OP for quite some time. I'm thinking the first few pushups will be a challenge, and 3 sets of 12 is worlds away right now. Pullups? Plenty of work to be done before we've hit the endurance phase. One hand push ups? Come on, Niner, you know most of the guys on MFP can't do those.

    Bodyweight workouts are great and will be beneficial for the OP for a while. When pushups, pullups, squats and lunges in rapid succession get to be too easy, come back and post again and we'll be happy to guide you into the next phase.

    I''d also like to add that "c25k level of fitness" doesn't mean that she isn't strong. I am not a runner and if I decided to be a runner I'd be at a c25k week 3 level.. but I am an athlete. I sprint very quickly, I can bust out 100 burpees in 1 set, and I can easily do 3 sets of 12 pushups or 36 straight pushups if I really wanted to. I can't do one armed pushups, but I can do them with one hand on a basketball, or one leg up, or on a balance ball or with a weight vest or whatever.

    All that to say... you are what you train for. I don't train to run.. I train to burn a **** load of fat, sculpt my body, to be stronger and increase my overall endurance. Let's not limit posts by making assumptions of what we feel a person can or cannot do based on our assumptions of fit. That's all. :)

    And that would put you in what percentile of all women in the world? 95%? 98%? 100 burpees? That would put me at the edge of vomiting, and metabolic routines that include burpees are part of my weekly routine. Now that we've established that you're in the upper echelon of strong women, what are the odds that you or someone with your level of fitness would create a thread with the OPs question? 0.000001%, I'd imagine. I wasn't trying to be condescending (tho I can see why you felt it was and apologize if I offended), I was merely playing the percentages. If her post mentioned doing 100s of burpees my advice would have been contained the phrase "get yo azz to the gym".
  • victoria4321
    victoria4321 Posts: 1,719 Member
    Both are effective if you know what you're doing. Have you ever seen the muscles on a gymnast? That's all body weight work.
  • victoria4321
    victoria4321 Posts: 1,719 Member

    This is the one that I am currently doing. However squats and lunges are killing my knees.
    Have you had someone check out your form to make sure that isn't causing the pain?

    pretty much this. the farther you stick that *kitten* out during squats the least likely its gonna hurt. lol

    That is unless you stick it out so far and over-arch your back.
  • kdeaux1959
    kdeaux1959 Posts: 2,675 Member
    Anything that offers resistance can be used to do strength training; Weights, in my opinion, offers you more measure-ability, consistency, and ability to increase incrementally. If possible, a good gym with a personal trainer provides a lot of good instruction, support and options. Otherwise, do what you can do with what you have.
  • slowturtle1
    slowturtle1 Posts: 284 Member
    Bump

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